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The FinTech industry in India is predicted to grow two-fold by 2020, with global brands lending their weight. This drive brings a lease of life and convenience to smaller businesses, which historically have struggled to benefit from national and global growth opportunities due to a traditionally poor technology infrastructure and network.

If we look at the report by NASSCOM, India was ranked the third largest tech startup ecosystem with more than 100 accelerators, 200 active angels, 150 VCs and over 4,200 startups operating in the region.

With India’s advancements in innovation, technology and entrepreneurship, the country presents a favourable environment for BizEquity, the global provider of online business valuations. Today, company has announced that it is launching its services in India to democratize business valuations by introducing its cloud based big data service.

The move follows BizEquity’s Singapore launch in 2015, and marks the next stage of its expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.

Not only this the company has partnered with Asia’s largest franchise solution company, Franchise India Brands Limited (Franchise India), which will support BizEquity’s dedicated team in India to deliver its valuation service to the country’s small business owners and financial institutions.

BizEquity’s platform will also play a key role in Franchise India’s recently launched market place for selling and buying businesses, Business Exchange.

Founded in 2010 by Michael M. Carter, a former venture capitalist, BizEquity’s tailored valuation service will help India’s 40 million SME owners understand the true value of their business.

The service will also enable India’s financial institutions, such as wealth managers and professional advisors including accountants, to white-label BizEquity’s valuation platform and use the detailed report it produces as a prospect and lead generating tool.

Speaking on its launch in India, Michael M. Carter, CEO, BizEquity, said, “Our mission is to value every business in the world and we are delighted to continue our progression into Asia, through the launch of our dedicated valuation service tailored to the Indian market place. With SMEs accounting for over 97 per cent of all enterprises across APEC economies, and representing over half of the workforce, not only is the market opportunity vast, but there is also a tremendous opportunity to help small business owners in the region by democratising the business valuation knowledge so fundamental to their success.”

BizEquity’s dedicated cloud-based platform harnesses sophisticated algorithms and big data knowledge to provide business owners, and the financial institutions and wealth managers that advise them, with real-time insight into the fundamental question of what their business is worth, and how their businesses are performing at a fraction of the typical cost - less than 1/30th - and typical time –4 - 6 weeks - it takes for traditional business valuations.

With 67 per cent of businesses under-financed and 50 per cent under-insured, and with many proprietors planning retirement based on the sale of their business, access to real-time business valuation knowledge is crucial for business owners. Despite its importance, only 2 per cent of businesses carry out an annual valuation because this crucial valuation data has traditionally been inaccessible to the majority of business owners due to lengthy time and high costs involved.

“At 48 million, India has the second largest number of SMEs in the world that employ nearly 40 per cent of India's workforce and contribute 17 per cent to the Indian GDP. Despite this significant contribution, SME‘s do not get registered and nearly 95 per cent of SME’s do not know their business value. This is largely because Indian SME owner-operator don’t plan for a long-term exit strategy, unlike the startup ecosystem in India. Getting financing also becomes a big challenge and SME’s remain under-capitalized, which is why knowing the true value of your business really matters,” said Gaurav Marya, Chairman, Franchise India commented.

Company has already valued over 30 million businesses globally. Its award winning business valuation service has been adopted by over 190 financial institutions which are harnessing the sophisticated algorithms and big data knowledge to better gauge the risk profile of their clients. This allows them to assess, for example, whether these businesses are underinsured or underfinanced, and enables them to enhance their services by providing the most up to date valuation data on their businesses.

“Following our successes in Singapore, our move into India, the world’s fastest growing tech hub – is a natural next step in our growth strategy that will enable us to help the country’s financial institutions enhance their service offering and prospect better as well as serve thousands of SMEs by providing them with real-time insight into their true business value,” said Naman Shah, BizEquity’s APAC Market Director.

BizEquity’s India launch comes at a time when changes in regulatory framework, demographic and technologies are enabling the growth of fintech.